As one of the original members of the 82nd Airborne Division, Lawrence Dunlop parachuted into some of the most dangerous areas in Europe during World War II. He was awarded two Purple Hearts for wounds received in combat as well as several citations for serving in battles.
Now, nearly two decades after his death, Dunlop is about to receive another honor.
On Tuesday, the Ipswich native and longtime Beverly police officer will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, the military cemetery in Washington, D.C., that has been called “the nation’s most hallowed ground.”
“It will be very emotional for me, even though he’s been gone for a while,” said Sandra Dunlop Redding, Dunlop’s daughter. “To have his final resting place be in such an honorable spot and be surrounded by so many others that have given their all, I think it’s a very appropriate space for him.”
Lawrence Dunlop died in 2004 at the age of 83. Redding said her father wanted his ashes either tossed off a bridge in Holland where he saw a lot of action during World War II, or buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Redding said both options were delayed, by red tape, the 9/11 attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, she has kept her father’s ashes in a bronze urn on the mantle at her home in Bennington, Vermont.
Finally, in 2019, Redding learned that the burial at Arlington National Cemetery had been approved. According to the cemetery’s website, eligibility for in-ground burial there is the most stringent of all U.S. national cemeteries. Redding said the fact that her father was one of the original members of the famous 82nd Airborne Division was a key to getting approval.
“It’s a very special regiment,” she said.
Dunlop’s World War II service took him to Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Holland, Luxenbourg, Belgium and Germany.
In a diary of his service, he tells about parachuting into Sicily in 1943, fighting his way through mine fields and taking part in an “epic attack” through the mountains of central Italy.
In February 1944, he describes being wounded in the leg by a blast from a German shell. He helped rescue five other wounded men from a trench, but one of the men died in his arms.
That same day, while he was resting in an evacuation hospital after being operated on, his brother Philip walked in. Philip had swum almost a mile to shore after his ship was blown up.
“He was lucky and only looked like a drowned rat,” Dunlop wrote.
After the war Dunlop became a police officer for the city of Beverly, where he served for 31 years. He became known around town as the “skating cop,” because he would put on ice skates while on duty and skate in his uniform on an outdoor rink near Hurd Stadium.
“Being a police officer was the perfect fit for him coming out of the service,” Redding said.
Eight family members will attend Dunlop’s burial at Arlington National, including Redding, her two sons, and Dunlop’s great grandson. Arlington National holds as many as 30 burials per day, so the ceremony is “pretty quick,” Redding said. It will include a gun salute, taps, and the folding of an American flag, as well as brief remarks by Redding’s sons.
“It’s a pretty special occurrence,” she said. “It’s going to very heartfelt.”
___
(c) 2023 The Salem News
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
